Beyond The Lights

The turn of the century saw many in the world migrate from their native countries to the western world which was experiencing a tremendous amount of economic growth. Some other people also migrated because of the impending wars and the instinctive desire to save their lives and that of their family. America’s human resource soared with the influx of immigrants as it took advantage to continue its growth as a leading economic power. Many people benefited from this change but one of the things that was always difficult to satisfy were the diverse dreams of the immigrants who expected to climb the social ladder . Living in this time period was definitely challenging as it was the survival of the fittest. Fate chose Maggie and placed her in an Irish family downtown New York where one had to fight for a means of survival before even thinking about securing a spot on the racial league. In Maggie:A Girl of the streets, Maggie is drawn to Pete as a result of poverty, lack of realistic ambitions and a lifetime of brutishness which eventually leads to her death.As a result of these dwindling circumstances, Maggie by no means master crafted her downfall.
In Maggie: A Girl of the Streets , Maggie’s future is affected by her background and the impact it had on her family. It is not surprising that many people tend to blame Maggie for how her life ended because she had the power to prevent certain things from happening. It is right for one to argue that Maggie was blinded by her romantic nature from seeing the real world. Her sudden leap from a life of confinement to one of pleasure had the better part of her. She was eclipsed by this sudden change in her life as “her cheeks were blushing with excitement and her eyes were glistening. She drew deep breaths of pleasure. No thoughts of the atmosphere of the collar and cuff factory came to her” (Crane 35). At this point in her life she had no eyes to see neither was there anyone to walk her through life nor carefully instruct her. Her heart was beating so fast that it couldn’t pause for a second to feel Pete’s deceitful touch. If she had made a conscious effort to see beyond the fantasies Pete offered her, it could had made a difference in how her life ended. Maggie couldn’t sense the danger in the atmosphere as she continued to drown in ecstasy. She couldn’t think beyond the love she had for Pete and this played a role in her death. Despite this fact, it should be well noted that there too many pitfalls along Maggie path. These were circumstances beyond here control which eventually fabricated how she lived her adult life.
In spite of all the allegations that can be leveled against Maggie and the claim that she orchestrated her own death, people tend to forget that she was a virtuous and naive girl whose future was ruined by social forces which were out of her control. Maggie had no control over where she was born or whom she was born to. It was an act of destiny that Maggie was born to a poor Irish family in the slums of New York. There was a little to learn since both of her parents were drunkards and rarely taught her any valuable life skills. The circumstances surrounding her childhood had a huge impact in how she lived her adult life as “ her father died and her mother’s life were divided into periods of thirty days” (Crane 19). Maggie lost her Dad early in life and her Mom was not in the right position to instruct her daughter on how she should live a proper life. She was left to face the rigours of life on her own at an early age. She was always limited in resources in her childhood. It is quite easy to understand there is not much to learn from a mother who is almost drunk all the time and does not make any effort to raise her children properly.
As a result of poverty, Maggie had no realistic ambitions growing up. Her eyes couldn’t see beyond the four corners of the slums. Maggie could have lost her life as a baby just like her little Tommie but “She and Jimmie lived” (Crane 19). There was no promise of a better future for Maggie. There was not a single person in her family whose life carved a path which she could follow. It was hard to ever perceive her life as a precious gift rather than something that merely fades away with the passing of time. For Maggie it was either she stayed home and dealt with her drunk mom or watch the boys fight on the streets. She was left to receive whatever the streets had to offer her and due to this she had no hope of a better future. To sum up, she had no one to look up to and she couldn’t see herself becoming anything good in life. Her Mom made her believe she was just one in a billion people on earth who walk the face of the earth and eventually become a part of the soil once her days were done.
Not only this but also, Maggie was affected by a lifetime of brutishness. Maggie experienced so much hatred from her mother as a child and this affected her adult life. Maggie was not shown enough love as a kid. Maggie grew up in a house similar to hell “for they thought she need only to be awake and all fiends will come from below” (Crane 17). Mary was abusive and these memories had a huge impact on Maggie’s adult life as she was swept away by the little love Pete demonstrated. Besides her Mom yelling at home all the time, she would go to the streets as an escape route only to meet people who cursed her at the slightest opportunity. It was as though the entire world hated her and that explains why she was easily swayed by Pete when he came around. Maggie was looking for love and at this point in her life it didn’t matter where she found it. All these culminated in drawing Maggie towards Pete and her eventual death.
It will be rather cheap to conclude that Maggie was responsible for her own downfall without considering the societal plugs that ensured that she couldn’t rise high enough beyond the giant towers that surrounded her in New York to see the hope that exist in other parts of the country and in the world. While it is understandable that she was blinded by her romantic nature, there are more factors that held Maggie down which were beyond her reach. Her poor background, the lack of realistic ambitions and a lifetime of brutishness were some of the many forces in the society that can be accounted for as reasons why Maggie fell for Pete, prostitution and her eventual death.